


LIFOSC - Four years

by moonlight_petal



Series: Life is full of second chances [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic, Kid!Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-20
Updated: 2014-05-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 21:48:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1663610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlight_petal/pseuds/moonlight_petal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A snippet of Sam's four year old life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	LIFOSC - Four years

**Author's Note:**

> Guys, I promised a couple of one-shots about the later years that follow 'Life is full of second chances'. Here's the first one.  
> Also I will go over the original story in the near future since I realized I had a bit of a plothole which I intend to fix.

~* Four years old *~

 

„Cas? Could you please…“ Dean gestured at his work bench where his partner was currently leaning. The former angel raised an eyebrow and lifted one of the tools there. “No the other one, please… yes, that one, thanks love!” the elder Winchester smiled when his fingers closed around the handle Cas held out to him. From his current position under a gorgeous dark green Mustang he blew a kiss in the dark haired man’s direction before his eyes were directed back at the work at hand.

The Mustang was his third big project since ‘Winchester’s Restorations and Repairs’ officially opened. Sam had been almost two by the time everything had been ready and working but with the help of Charlie and her plainly amazing ideas for advertisements and promotion, the autoshop had taken off immediately. At first there had been mostly repair jobs but after some time Dean had gotten his first big restoration job.

It had been awesome and terrible at the same time. In his endeavour to make it perfect and build up a good reputation he had started to worry a lot and spent more time at the garage than in the house, leaving Cas and Sam alone. The former angel hadn’t complained in the beginning since it had been summer break time but then he had to go back to work as well and the burden of suddenly taking care of the toddler all by himself quickly got to him. It had been the first real fight the two had had ever since they had gotten together. They had worked out their differences quickly however. Cas had a way to soothe Dean’s fears and doubts and seeing how Sam had mastered his potty training under the gentle guidance of Cas without Dean realizing what he was missing out on had brought them back on track quickly. And the car had been a perfect piece of work in the end anyway.

Just like that he had earned a reputation and had gotten the following projects as well over time.

Working at the school library had been the best idea Cas had ever had. The former angel loved the work which to be quite honest probably was because the students loved him in return. In the beginning he had been a bit of a curiosity at Lawrence High and most definitely the dream of many a sleepless night of various students, male and female alike. That particular circumstance had been taken care of quickly when Dean and Sam had visited Cas during lunch break about two months after he had started work. The news that the new and handsome librarian was taken and had a kid spread faster than wildfire.

Soon after though many students weren’t drawn by Cas’ good looks to the school library but by his friendliness and bottomless knowledge. Whenever someone had to do a particularly difficult project their first stop was at the library, something in the years before had never happened according to the headmaster. And not only did they willingly go to Cas for help instead of googling the topic and copying the first entry they found but the former angel had a natural way to guide them in the right directions and encourage them to work the problems out themselves. He was adored by everyone and Dean couldn’t be prouder.

And Sam had grown up amazingly. Just like when he had been a baby it continued during his time as a toddler. Whatever he put his mind on he achieved quickly and he learned faster than Dean would have expected. In seemingly no time the little one had mastered the art of walking and had Dean and Cas and everyone else on their toes in the process. Also his curiosity knew no bounds and absolutely nothing was safe from the insatiable urge to explore.

Over time the child graduated from single syllables to whole words and by now at a little over four years old Sam was chattering away in whole sentences and that mostly nonstop.

It had taken a bit of time to convince Dean but with the combined force of Cas, Charlie, Kevin, Lisa and Jody they had managed it and now ever since the beginning of the year Sam attended the local preschool just a block away from Lawrence High. That had probably been the only reason Dean had finally agreed to letting Sam out of his sight for hours on end.

And that was the reason why Cas was with Dean on a Saturday afternoon, relaxed and enjoying the time together even if the Winchester was lying under a car. With preschool came a whole bunch of new friends and Sam had been invitded for a birthday party that day.

“I kind of hope that Emma’s parents are reasonable enough not to let the kids eat too much sugar otherwise it will be a nightmare to get Sam to sleep tonight!” Dean spoke up suddenly and Cas huffed a laugh.

“Dean, Emma has two older siblings, I’m pretty sure they know better by now and if he really has too much energy tonight we can always call Luke to play with him.”

Lucifer had become a constant in their life mostly because Sam loved him and because Charlie didn’t have as much time to babysit anymore since their hunter network had grown quite a bit and demanded a lot of attention. The angels in general were basically daily guests in the house and at least once a week Crowley visited as well. It had been weird but similar to how he had warmed to Lucifer, Dean had accepted Crowley by now as well. All of them had uncle and aunt status now although Lucifer definitely was Sam’s favourite.

“True.” The Winchester agreed, gracefully gliding out from under the car and right in front of Cas smiling lovingly up at him.

He just lifted a hand to grab one of Cas’ when the former angel’s mobile phone rang.

Cas smiled apologetically and entangled his fingers with Dean’s before he read the caller ID and frowned.

“Yeah? Rose, what can I do for you, did something happen?”

At the mentioning of the familiar name Dean squeezed Cas’ hand and sat up, instant worry etched on his face. Why would the Rose Stuart, mother of the birthday girl, call them in the middle of the afternoon if not because something happened with Sam. They weren’t due to pick him up for another three hours after all.

The dark blonde hunter watched Cas intently whose frown deepened while he nodded and hmm’ed at whatever Rose was telling him.

“No of course, it’s alright that you called, we’ll come over as soon as we can. Thanks for calling, Rose!”

Dean only waited until Cas ended the call.

“What? What’s the matter with Sam? Why do we have to pick him up?” he asked worriedly.

“To be honest, I don’t know, neither does Rose. The kids were playing outside and one of the neighbours had offered to perform a couple of simple magic tricks and play with balloons or something and suddenly Sam apparently came running inside, hid himself in the wardrobe and started crying. She said she tried to calm him and get him to come out but he refused to talk to her.” The former angel explained, matching his steps with Dean’s who immediately had gotten to his feet and walked to the Impala, keys in hand.

Dean frowned that sounded not like his baby brother at all. All the more worried he was.

The drive over to Rose Stuart’s house luckily didn’t take long and soon they rang the doorbell.

Almost instantly the door opened and a half apologetic, half worried expression adorned the dark haired woman’s face.

“Thanks for coming on such short notice, I hope I didn’t interrupt anything important but I’m on my wits end to be honest.” She murmured and Cas smiled at her.

“Don’t worry, we’re glad you called, thank you for keeping an eye on him.” He calmed the woman while Dean followed her inside with a tight smile and crouched down on the floor in front of the wardrobe door. The sight of his red-faced, crying baby brother broke his heart, Sam who actually was tall already for his age looked so small and vulnerable curled up on himself like he was.

“Hey there baby bug.” Dean said gently, slowly reaching a hand inside. “What happened, hm? You can tell me.” He murmured softly but it took a moment until the familiar voice registered in the agitated brain of the small boy.

But when Sam realized who was talking, his head shot up and faster than Dean could react he was tackled by the child and almost knocked off-balance.

“Dean!” was all they heard from the whimpering child for some time while he held onto Dean’s shirt like his life depended on it.

Cas exchanged a look with his partner and then with Rose who gave them a bit of privacy then to look after the rest of the children.

The former angel got down on his knees next to the Winchesters and gently placed his hand on Sam’s back.

“Now Sammy, we’re here now, nothing can harm you while we’re around, you know that right? So why don’t you calm down and tell us what’s the problem.” Cas whispered soothingly, gently rubbing circles with his hand.

It took another minute for Sam to stop crying and finally look up with red and puffy eyes and a snotty nose.

Gently Dean cleaned him up and looked at his brother patiently.

“There was a man… he scared me, he looked creepy and then he came closer to pick me up or something so I ran away.” The child rambled.

Cas and Dean exchanged another look. Their first thought was of some weird guy coming close to the children but the garden of the Stuart’s was at the back of the house and closed off in every direction, basically impossible for some random guy who didn’t belong there to come close in the broad daylight. There had to be another explanation.

Dean turned his head in the opposite direction to the living room door which Rose had left open for them. Through the opening he had a clear view into the garden and he frowned. He did smile slightly but he still was confused.

“I’m sure this man wanted to show you something fun, Sammy. He didn’t mean to scare you. He’s just wearing a costume.” Dean said reassuringly, answering Cas’ questioning expression with a slight nod to the door.

The former angel followed Dean’s gaze and saw the centre of the problem standing close to Rose, talking to her with a worried expression. The neighbour had wanted to make it especially fun for the small children and had dressed up as a clown who performed magic tricks and made balloon animals for them.

“It’s okay to be scared though, okay Sammy? Don’t worry about it.” Dean had continued meanwhile and pressed a light kiss to Sam’s forehead, getting to his feet again, lifting Sam up into his arms. His brother soon would be too heavy for him to carry for extended periods of time but Dean was the last person to complain in a situation like that.

Cas followed the two of them and looked Sam in the eyes.

“Listen to your brother, Sammy. It’s okay to scared, everybody is scared of something.”

“Even you, daddy?” Dean smiled at Cas at these words. Even after more than four years it still was funny and a bit weird to hear Sam call Cas ‘daddy’. But again, he would never complain about it.

“Even me, Sammy but I know that Dean will always protect me when I’m scared, just like we both will always protect you, alright?”

Sam watched Cas intently for a moment, seemingly trying to assess if he can trust his words but then he squeezed Dean tightly for a second before he turned in his brother’s arms, demanding silently to be handed over to Cas.

Settled in his daddy’s arms Sam finally smiled again.

“I will protect you too! And Growley will help me!” he said with conviction.

Cas smiled in return and thanked the small blonde boy for such a brave promise.

Growley was his trusted stuffed dog that he had gotten from Crowley years before.

The first time the king of hell had heard the little Winchester say the name he had fallen silent with a slightly distant look. When asked later he had explained that ‘Growley’ had been the name of his favourite and most trusted hellhound companion. The very same hellhound Sam had killed when starting the trials to close the gates of hell.

Dean listened to the conversation with a grin but then he gave Cas a sign that he would go and tell Rose that they had everything under control and would take Sam with them. After crying for so long it was only a matter of time until Sam would become tired and cranky, he had to be exhausted.

Rose and her neighbour looked up immediately when Dean came outside.

“I am so sorry, I don’t know what happened that scared him so much, it definitely wasn’t my intention.” The neighbour started to apologize profusely the moment Dean was within earshot.

The elder Winchester held up a hand and smiled at the guy.

“No need to apologize. In fact it’s not your fault at all, you did nothing out of the ordinary and you couldn’t have known that my brother is afraid of clowns. You meant well and I’m sure Emma and the others had a blast and that’s important now. Don’t worry about it.” Dean explained and understanding showed on the other two’s faces.

“I see, it explains a lot. Again I’m really sorry that I scared Sam and that he didn’t have as much fun as the others at his first party.” The man said and Rose nodded.

“Had I only known…” she sighed, regret in her voice.

“As I said, don’t worry. Sammy is small, he’s going to be alright and there will be many more parties in the future for him to enjoy thoroughly. And I hope the others have a lot more fun today but we’ll take Sam home with us now, he’s exhausted and I fear he gets cranky quickly when he’s tired.” Dean smiled, now apologetic himself.

But Rose laughed.

“Say no more, when Emma gets tired she turns into a cranky little monster, I understand.”

They said their goodbyes and then Dean returned inside to leave together with Cas and Sam.

~*~

When they arrived back home Sam had been half asleep just like Dean had predicted but perked up a little when he saw Lucifer and Balthazar in the living room doorway waiting for them.

“Uncle Luke, uncle Balthazar...” he squeaked and ran right into Lucifer’s waiting arms with a last burst of energy.

“Hey there pumpkin, did you miss me?” the blonde archangel asked cheekily to which Sam nodded enthusiastically until a huge yawn interrupted him.

“Oi someone is tired…” Balthazar chuckled, exchanging a significant look with his younger brother though.

“Am not…” Sam pouted, eyes half closed with his head on Lucifer’s shoulder.

“Of course you aren’t but I bet Growley could use a nap and you know best that he won’t go to sleep without you. Come on, off we go, I’m pretty sure your uncles will be back tonight for a bit.” Dean smiled, gently taking Sam into his arms again and carrying his half asleep brother into his bedroom where he was out like a light the moment his head hit the pillow.

When Dean returned to the living room the brothers were talking quietly.

“So to what do we owe the pleasure?” the elder Winchester asked although he had a pretty good idea why the angels were there.

“We were rather concerned by Sam’s distress but since we sensed that he wasn’t at home we refrained from appearing at his side to make sure he was alright.” Balthazar explained calmly what Dean already guessed.

“Cas told us that he got scared by a guy dressed as a clown?” Lucifer asked, one elegant eyebrow arched questioningly.

The blonde hunter sighed and slumped onto the sofa next to Cas, immediately reaching for his partner’s hand.

“Yeah, the host’s neighbour wanted to entertain the children and meant well… it’s weird and to be honest I’m a little concerned. You see Sam had a bit of a phobia of clowns before which had something to do with some restaurant/arcade place my dad and later me as well left him alone apparently. I didn’t even know until a couple years back when we had to return to such a restaurant for a case. Personally I have no problem with clowns but looking from his point of view I could see how he could find them creepy. Anyway since he didn’t have these experiences I thought they wouldn’t be an issue for him now where I was obviously wrong. The question now is what about other memories… is that just a single exception or is it only a matter of time that he will remember a lot more?” Dean asked, looking from Balthazar to Lucifer and then to Cas who squeezed his hand tightly.

“I don’t know Dean, I don’t think that Sam really _remembers_ being scared by clowns. It could be a coincidence, children develop irrational fears at that age easily.” Cas said with a reassuring smile.

Lucifer made a thoughtful humming noise.

“Memory out of context, coincidence, whatever… the question that’s important is how do you plan to handle it if Sam does remember things? And even if he doesn’t which –personally- I think is more likely you have to make a decision what you tell him about the supernatural. You are not active hunters anymore that’s true but we all know if bad comes to worse you’d be in the trenches again rather quickly. And so far it’s alright but it won’t take long for him to wonder about imaginary monsters under his bed, do you really plan to lie to him?” the archangel asked pointedly.

“And what’s more, he accepts it at eye value at the moment but he’ll realize soon that it’s not exactly normal to have aunts and uncles who can appear out of thin air if he calls for them.” Balthazar added.

Dean and Cas shared a silent glance, the Winchester sighed.

“I know. We talked about this already we wait until Sam comes to us with it. He thinks it’s normal so far and I won’t be the one who tells him otherwise. When he asks we tell him the truth or some variation of it.” He answered.

The archangel nodded. He was satisfied with whatever they had decided he just wanted to make sure that they actually thought about it. Dean Winchester was after all master of ignoring unpleasant issues.

“Alright, let’s hope that Sam has a bit more time until he has to learn the truth. I do have to get back now though.” Balthazar sighed deeply and got to his feet.

“Agreed, Michael probably isn’t pleased with us missing as is…” Lucifer chuckled.

“Thanks for coming by. I hope we can count on you to come back tonight again though? Sam would be sad otherwise that he slept through your visit.” Cas asked with a smile.

“I’ll make sure that his favourite uncle shows his face tonight again, I fear I can’t though. Another time, promise. But with Lucifer there he won’t miss me anyway.” Balthazar grinned and quickly held up a hand when Cas wanted to protest. “Not a word brother, it’s true and he deserves it. It doesn’t bother me.” And with that both angels vanished with a soft flutter of wings.


End file.
